Happiness Hypothesis Jonathan Haight University of Virginia

Transcription

1 Happiness Hypothesis Jonathan Haight University of Virginia

2 Conflicting parts of the mind I see the right way and I approve it. But I follow the wrong Two Hypothesis Western = Happiness comes from achieving and accomplishing goals Eastern = Happiness comes from Within Connectedness Love/Relationship Work Achieving something <-> Flow (Full Engagement) Giving Purpose Something Bigger than ourselves

3 Our minds are Full of incompatible urges and desires Conscious = Rider Thinks he is in control But he is not Sub-Conscious = Elephant In control Our behavior is governed by the elephant Connectedness People Work Something Larger than yourself

4 Philosophers Notes It comes from within and Without From Both ancient wisdom and modern Science Eastern = Meditation Western = CBT Catch your thoughts, write them down, name the distortions, Epiphanies and Lasting Change Love

5 Rider and the Elephant The Divided Self - Rider v/s Elephant Reason and Emotion must work together to create intelligent behavior We are The rider and we are the elephant, and our mental health depends on the two working together, each drawing on the others' strengths. Emotion does most of the Work Rider Evolved to serve the elephant Can see farther into the future Requires Language Planning/Reasoning More like an advisor. Not the king Very limited Only 1 thing at a time Elephant Runs automatically Emotions Gut feelings Visceral Reactions Multiple processes in parallel - Can handle many tasks at once How to change you mind (train the elephant) Rider can t just decide and order the elephant to go with it. It has to be trained: Meditation training the mind to stop the incessant judging Elephant is always evaluating always saying Like it or Don t like it Taming the Elephant CBT Prozac Hypnosis People around us Elephant = Wants to win at game of life. Its strategy is to impress others gain their admiration

6 Progress, Arrival, Adaptation Progress Principle Joy comes more from making progress toward goals than from achieving them. Shakespeare: "Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing. Arrival Fallacy Adaptation principle The human mind is extraordinarily sensitive to changes in conditions, but not so sensitive to absolute levels. The winner's pleasure comes from rising in wealth, not from standing still at a high level After a few months the new comforts have become the new baseline of daily life.

7 Happiness Formula H = S+ C+ V S = Set Point C= Conditions of Life V = Voluntary Activities Components: Love and work are crucial for human happiness because they draw us out of ourselves and into connection with people and projects beyond ourselves Relationships Flow Strength and number of a person's relationships. Having strong social relationships strengthens the immune system, extends life (more than does quitting smoking), speed recovery from surgery, and reduces the risks of depression and anxiety disorders. Good relationships make people happy, and happy people enjoy more and better relationships than unhappy people. Flow gives joy Flow = Clear Challenge + Skills to meet the challenge + Immediate feedback on current condition Hard work becomes effortless Elephant and Rider are in harmony use your strengths Kindness and Gratitude: We experience longer-lasting improvements in mood from the kindness and gratitude activities than from those in which we indulge ourselves Caring for others is often more beneficial than is receiving help.

8 Use of Adversity 3 Benefits: Rising to a challenge reveals your hidden abilities, and seeing these abilities changes your selfconcept. None of us knows what we are really capable of enduring. Relationships - Adversity is a filter It doesn't just separate the fair-weather friends from the true It strengthens relationships and it opens people's hearts to one another. Trauma changes priorities and philosophies toward the present ("Live each day to the fullest") and toward other people. 3 Levels of Personality Basic Traits (mostly about the elephant) Characteristic Adaptation Personal goals, values, beliefs, Life Story Written by the rider Knowledge Explicit Knowledge = Facts you know Tacit Knowledge = Acquired from life experience. Resides in the elephant.

9 Virtue Virtue Hypothesis: Cultivating Virtue will make you happy Virtue resides in well trained elephant Training takes daily practice and repetition Virtue sounds like hard work, and often is. But when virtues are re-conceived as excellences, each of which can be achieved by the practice of several strengths of character, and when the practice of these strengths is often intrinsically rewarding, suddenly the work sounds more like Csikszentmihalyi's flow and less like toil. a. Virtue can be its own reward, but that's obvious only for the virtues that one finds rewarding. Ben Franklin The rider can be successful only to the extent that it trains the elephant Aristotle Good life= realizing your full potential TO become what is in our nature to become

10 Happiness comes from between People can get more satisfaction from their work. The first step is to know your strength. The final version of the happiness hypothesis is that happiness comes from between. Happiness is not something that you can find, acquire, or achieve directly. Clear goals and Relationships/giving right relationships between yourself and others between yourself and your work between yourself and something larger than yourself. If you get these relationships right, a sense of purpose and meaning will emerge. Happiness requires changing yourself and changing your world. It requires pursuing your own goals and fitting in with others.